The present invention relates to a prenatal audio apparatus and especially to a belt having audio transducers mounted thereto and connected to a portable tape recorder for directing sound to an unborn baby.
Research in recent years has indicated that an unborn fetus, while still being carried by a woman, has operative sense organs for a period time prior to the birth of the baby. One of the sense organs of the fetus is hearing. The baby, even though unborn, can hear certain sounds. The present invention directs predetermined music and other sound towards the fetus while simultaneously directing the music, or other audio material, to the mothers. Preselected audio material or music, for instance, can be used for calming an otherwise active fetus as well as used in certain prenatal learning techniques. Parents can also make their own tapes using their voices to familiarize the unborn baby with the parent's voices.
The prior art has included a variety of devices for attaching to a persons and a variety of belts for attaching around patients for different purposes. One such device can be seen in the Anderson U.S. Pat. No. 4,382,793 for a device for feeling audio amplifier output, whereby two people can attach belts having electrical chargeable plates for predetermined surface areas in contact with the skin of two participants who can then hold hands. Each can have one channel of a stereo audio output directed towards the electroconductor against the skin, so that both participants can feel the modulated impulses of the sound, as well as hear the output of the speaker. In the Cummins U.S. Pat. No. 4,066,072, and in the Cowan U.S. Pat. No. 3,419,923, environment simulators have been provided for babies after their birth and includes the use of a pressure cushion having an oscillating pressure to simulate the heart beat and may also control the temperature and other conditions in an attempt to recreate, to some degree, some of the conditions that of the womb prior to birth. The Honig U.S. Pat. No. 3,218,638 shows a wireless passage biological telemetering system, while the Hildebrandt U.S. Pat. No. 4,524,774 shows an apparatus and method for the stimulation of human muscles.
In contrast to the prior art, the present invention mounts stereo speakers in a belt forming appropriate acoustical mounting for directing the output directly at the womb and towards an unborn fetus without the sound being heard by others since it is baffled by the belt. The mother may be listening to the same audio source simultaneously with the fetus.